Sizing the prize PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploiting the AI Revolution What’s the real value of AI for your business and how can you capitalise?

Highlights

Artificial intelligence (AI) can transform the productivity and GDP potential of the global economy. Strategic investment in different types of AI technology is needed to make that happen.

Labour productivity improvements will drive initial GDP gains as firms seek to “augment” the productivity of their labour force with AI technologies and to automate some tasks and roles.

Our research also shows that 45% of total economic gains by 2030 will come from product enhancements, stimulating consumer demand. This is because AI will drive greater product variety, with increased personalisation, attractiveness and affordability over time.

The greatest economic gains from AI will be in China (26% boost to GDP in 2030) and North America (14.5% boost), equivalent to a total of $10.7 trillion and accounting for almost 70% of the global economic impact.

More about a $15.7 trillion game changer

Total economic impact of AI in the period to 2030

Global

What comes through strongly from all the analysis we’ve carried out for this report is just how big a game changer AI is likely to be, and how much value potential is up for grabs. AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion1 to the global economy in 2030, more than the current output of China and India combined. Of this, $6.6 trillion is likely to come from increased productivity and $9.1 trillion is likely to come from consumption-side effects.

While some markets, sectors and individual businesses are more advanced than others, AI is still at a very early stage of development overall. From a macroeconomic point of view, there are therefore opportunities for emerging markets to leapfrog more developed counterparts. And within your business sector, one of today’s start-ups or a business that hasn’t even been founded yet could be the market leader in ten years’ time.

Business leaders

Business leaders are asking: What impact will AI have on my organisation, and is our business model threatened by AI disruption? And as these leaders look to capitalise on AI opportunities, they’re asking: Where should we target investment, and what kind of capabilities would enable us to perform better? Cutting across all these considerations is how to build AI in the responsible and transparent way needed to maintain the confidence of customers and
wider stakeholders.

These are the strategic questions we’ll be addressing in a series of reports designed to help enterprises create a clear and compelling business case for AI investment and development. While there’s been a lot of research on the impact of
automation, it’s only part of the story. In this new series of PwC reports, we want to highlight how AI can enhance and augment what enterprises can do, the value potential of which is as large, if not larger, than automation.

The analysis carried out for this report gauges the economic potential for AI between now and 2030, including for regional economies and eight commercial sectors worldwide. Through our AI Impact Index, we also look at how improvements to personalisation/customisation, quality and functionality could boost value, choice and demand across nearly 300 use cases of AI, along with how quickly transformation and disruption are likely to take hold. Other key
elements of the research include in-depth sectorby-sector analyses.

In this opening report, we outline the regional economies that are set to gain the most and the three business areas with the greatest AI potential in each of eight sectors. Future reports will focus on specific sectors, along with functional areas such as marketing, finance and talent management. We’ll also be setting out the detailed economic projections and, in partnership with Forbes magazine, publishing interviews with some of the business leaders at the forefront of AI.